Chorizo Stew

Happy new year. Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Ours was fab and I’ve created an experimental dish to use my favourite present – a beautiful teal coloured cast iron casserole dish given to us by my parents. It’s bloody heavy but that metal helps to distribute the heat evenly across the dish. The enamelled surface is great because you get a crust of deliciousness which can be easily scraped up into the sauce thanks to how non-stick it is. The lid condenses all of the steam back into the sauce, and it’s virtually silent when it’s boiling. And thanks to how pretty it is, you can feel proud to take it to the dinner table. 🙂 In short I adore it!

A Man’s dad gave us a mandolin which has already been used to make coleslaw and to slice a gammon joint. I foresee a dauphinoise or gratin in my future…

I also bought A Man a new knife – a rather dangerous looking beast of a cleaver. We’ve agreed that I’m banned from using it, because given the ease with which it cuts through an entire chicken I’d be quite likely to go straight through my finger.

The sword and shield of the kitchen! A Man’s chopper and the lid of the casserole.

My other kitchen-related present was a trio of teapots. I’ve got a feeling that I’ve become a bit predictable…

That’s a glass teapot for fruity teas, a Le Creuset teapot for posh teas and an “It’s always Time for Tea” teapot because, well, it’s true.

The stew I made with some little sausages made with garlic and paprika. They were from Morrisons and I would thoroughly recommend them – they were yummy! I was really pleased with this meal and the only thing I would change would be to add some spice (I dropped some of my chilli jelly into the leftovers for next time we eat it).